NILES Police had warned woman about lifestyle

Her fianc & eacute; was killed in what Youngstown police describe as a self-defense shooting.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- A Niles woman facing federal drug-dealing charges was warned to get an honest job after her fianc & eacute; was killed in a gunfight.
Detective Jeff Orr, project director at the Trumbull County Drug Task Force, said Wednesday that he made the suggestion to Nicole Rozier, 22, of Ann Street during an interview with her last year.
Rozier and Eric Cochran, 22, of East Judson Street, Youngstown, have each been charged by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in Youngstown with conspiracy to traffic in drugs with a firearm.
The charges stem from a Nov. 16 raid at a residence at 223 S. Cedar St.
Rozier has been released from jail, while Cochran is being held in the Mahoning County Jail without bond.
Items seized: Authorities recovered two guns, crack cocaine, crack pipes, money, records and prescriptions for Vicodin, a pain killer.
Orr said he had suggested to Rozier that she borrow money, go to college and a get a job after her fianc & eacute;, Terry Walker, was killed Feb. 27, 2000, on Youngstown's South Side.
Youngstown police Detective Sgt. Jose Morales said Walker, 27, who lived in Niles at the time, was in the crowded Splendid Lounge and Restaurant on South Avenue in Youngstown when Jose Bellio of Youngstown stepped on Walker's foot and words were exchanged.
Outside, Morales said, Walker pulled a gun on Bellio, who also drew a gun and fired.
"He lost the draw," the detective said of Walker.
Bellio was not charged because witnesses said Walker drew first and Bellio fired in self-defense, the detective said.
Found dead: Walker was found about 4 a.m. at Auburndale and South avenues with a 9 mm pistol beside him. He had been shot in the buttocks and side and died an hour later.
Before Walker was killed, Orr said, the Trumbull County grand jury had indicted him on a charge of crack cocaine.
The sheriff's detective said that authorities made one drug buy from Walker and that he sold drugs on North Cedar Street in Niles, but he was killed before he could be arrested as the result of the indictment.
Orr said a man with Walker when he was killed was Lamont Williams of Niles, who pleaded guilty to a drug charge and sentenced to six months in jail.
Walker and Williams were indicted about the same time in February 2000.
Orr said he knew nothing of Rozier until she testified before the county grand jury late last year during an investigation of the illegal selling of OxyContin, a pain reliever used by cancer patients.
Rozier was not charged with any wrongdoing as the result of that probe, Orr noted, but it was about that time he talked with her about a lifestyle change.
yovich@vindy.com